Empire Glassworks Mini Mushroom Recycler Review
Today I’m going to review the Empire Glassworks Mini Mushroom Recycler for you all, as I recently bought it from Smoke Milk, and it really surprised me!
When I first started collecting bongs my budget was pretty low, in fact, the first three bongs my boyfriend and I bought, were all straight pipe, basic, buy-from-the-tobacconist type bongs.
Let’s call these bongs Small, Medium and Large. We bought Medium first and originally, we wanted to buy one more so we had one each. When we got to the tobacconist they had Small and Large, we decided to get both. Small was/is the WORST bong if I’ve had in my life it is awful and no matter how small your bowl is, you will cough, it is a nightmare. Large was good, a little better than Medium.
So, after trying Small, Medium and Large I deduced that the larger, the better, the smaller, the worse. Since then, almost all of the bongs that we have bought to add to the collection, have been tall bongs that have some sort of percolator in them.
It wasn’t until recently that I sort of had an epiphany when it comes to what makes a bong a good bong. I think this might be a common misconception in the world of stoners, that the bigger the bong, the better, however, if nothing else, the Empire Glassworks Mini Mushroom Recycler has taught me that small bongs can be just as good, if not better than tall bongs.
Now for a little background on Empire Glassworks (EG). Located in California USA and established in 2013, Empire Glassworks’ Artists and Owners have over 40 years of experience in the world of glass behind them.
Each piece is individually designed and made by EG’s skilled glassblowers using a process called ‘lampworking”, a type of glasswork where a torch or lamp is used to melt the glass. Once the piece has been formed by blowing and shaping with certain tools and hand movements, it is then annealed in a kiln at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The higher temperature makes for a more durable product and richer colours characteristic of Empire Glassworks pieces.
Let’s talk about the Mini Mushroom Recycler. This intricately crafted water pipe sits at approximately 20 centimetres tall, the perfect size to fit nicely in your hand.
There are three main sections of complex glass decals; the mouth piece, the bowl and the base of the recycler. The mouthpiece features a beautifully blown brown and red mushroom with white spots and little black eyes.
The bowl is something straight out of the Mario universe, reminiscent of the Piranha Plant, teeth up top, a rich red and white dotted mouth (just like the mouthpiece), detailed leaves on either side and fitted with a stem spiralled up, designed to lift the bowl up with, to make clearing the bong that much easier.
The base of the recycler has my favourite decals of the bong, 5 little mushrooms all different colours, sizes and slight differences in the faces of the mushrooms too.
Now to the recycler function. A recycler bong, as the name suggests, recycles the water inside the bong as you’re are pulling smoke into it, in turn, also recycling the smoke through. It circulates the smoke and water through the pipe again and again (until you stop pulling). Just like going through percolators does, cycling through the bong continuously creates a smoother and cooler smoke. One of the coolest things about this recycler bong is once you finish pulling, you can see the water swirl back down into the base creating a tornado type effect. Another great feature of this piece is the tilted mouthpiece making it impossible for yukky splashbacks.
On buying the recycler, my decision to buy was purely on aesthetics, however, after buying and taking my first pull I was extremely surprised by how efficient this bongs' functionality was. This is my first recycler and my goodness does it cool the smoke down!
Overall, I would say this bong is definitely worth the price tag of $420, not only is it a beautiful work of art that I will happily display around the house, but it has by far the best function of any of our current collection. If you want to check out the pieces I’m comparing this one to you can see our collection in this blog post here.
Smoke Milk plans on getting more Empire Glassworks pieces in the new year and I would strongly recommend adding one to your collection.
Peace,
Milo.
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